


Eins, Zwei, Drei

by EmberForge



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Cute, Fluff, Gen, Pre-Campaign, at least if you think about the fact that Caleb's world is gonna be destroyed soon enough, putting my German 102 skills to good use, taking some liberties with thaumaturgy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 04:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15210860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberForge/pseuds/EmberForge
Summary: How Caleb learned to dance.





	Eins, Zwei, Drei

_Tap._

_Tap._

_Tap tap._

_Taptaptaptaptaptap-_

"Astrid!"

The girl looked up from the spell she was supposed to be copying with wide eyes. “Yes, Caleb?”

"Would you please stop that tapping? It's very distracting."

"Entshuldigung."

Caleb heard Eodwulf sigh from the other end of the table, and looked up from where he was copying his own spells to stare at Astrid. She seemed to be doodling in the corners of her parchment rather than doing the assigned work. Her face hovered inches above the parchment as she made quick, energetic stokes, likely coloring something in. "Is everything alright, Astrid?"

She set her quill down. "I'm just so _bored!_ We've been at this for hours. Can't we take a break?"

"We need to focus right now. Master Ikithon said he wanted these spells to be copied over by Monday," Caleb told her.

"Yes, but we all know that we'll be done in _half_ that time! Just a little break. It won't hurt us! Please?"

The two boys looked at each other helplessly as Astrid stared at them with pleading, wide eyes. They had a silent contest of wills, until eventually Eodwulf set his own quill down and sighed. "...What were you thinking?" he asked carefully.

"Oh! Well... dance with me? Ever since we snuck out to that concert hall last week I've had all of that beautiful music stuck in my head!"

Eodwulf's lips twitched into a sardonic grin. "I'm a little... incapacitated right now, remember?" He scooted out his chair just enough to gesture at his left foot, which was wrapped in a thick cast. He had been a little too careless in their last training session, and had managed to both break his foot and nearly blow up the woodshed. Master Ikithon had decided that his punishment would be to heal the slow way (as well as fix the woodshed without magic when he was better).

Astrid's attention changed focus. "Caleb, then! You'll dance with me, won't you?"

Caleb's eyes went wide, though he couldn't bring himself to meet hers. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"I... I do not know how."

Astrid wasn't even fazed. "Well, then I'll teach you! It's not that hard. Just a series of sequential steps that repeat over and over again. Please, dance with me?" She held out a hand in invitation.

Neither he nor Eodwulf had ever been able to deny her, ever since they were small children. Eodwulf had always been the brawn of the group, working through his problems head on and usually with an excessive amount of force. Caleb was definitely the brains, preferring to distract himself with a good book and work through difficulties with logic. But Astrid? She was the heart, and she had them both wrapped around her little finger.

Caleb sighed, then stood up and grabbed her hand. "Ja, alright."

Astrid's answering smile was like a sun. "Wunderbar!" She started manoeuvring the two of them into the right position, placing one of Caleb's hands on her shoulder while her own went on his shoulder blade, their opposite hands clasped together and held out from their bodies. "I'm going to teach you how to waltz," she said. "It's pretty easy, and it's a dance everyone should know. Then when you're a famously brave and handsome hero of the Empire someday and invited to a glamorous soirée, you won't make a fool of yourself!"

Caleb blushed, and he simultaneously caught Eodwulf fondly rolling his eyes at Astrid's excitement from his seat at the table, but Astrid seemed to be too focused to notice. "Just follow my lead, okay?" she told Caleb. "And then once you're more comfortable, we can switch. It'll be a lot of fun. Eodwulf, if you would, please?"

Eodwulf cast thaumaturgy with a snap of his fingers, and suddenly an elegant tune started to drift through the air. Astrid smiled as she started to patiently lead Caleb through the steps.

"Eins, zwei, drei- just like that. Over and over it repeats. Not so hard, right?"

"Nein," Caleb said, his eyes trained on his feet as he tried steadfastly to not tread on her toes. He found as time went on it did in fact get easier, and after a while he finally had enough confidence to look up from what his feet were doing. Astrid had a gleam of mischief in her eyes when their gazes met, and she gave him a wide grin. 

"So once you've got the basics down, you can spice things up a little. You know, add steps to make yourselves look even more impressive. Like _this_!"

Caleb suddenly found himself being dipped backwards, and would have fallen to the ground if not for Astrid's strength. She tipped him back up, and at seeing the startled expression on his face she burst out into laughter. It was infectious, and Caleb only held out for a moment before he was laughing too. As they twirled around, he even managed to glimpse Eodwulf out of the corner of his eye, trying to hide his chuckles behind his hand.

Caleb decided then that he was confident enough to take the lead, and switched positions with Astrid with a look of understanding. Though he wasn’t quite as smooth, he managed to lead them around the room with purpose, at one point dipping Astrid until she was a hair's breadth away from the floor as payback, making them all giggle once again.

As the music faded away, the pair reluctantly stepped apart from each other. Astrid gave Caleb a small curtesy, which he returned with a bow. "You are a very good dancer, Astrid."

"Danke schön! You're not so bad yourself," she told him, smiling. "We'll have to practice some more to make sure you're in tip top shape for all the beautiful parties our futures hold, though." She then turned her grin onto Eodwulf. "And when you're healed, we'll practice with you, too! We'll be the most poised heroes the Empire has ever seen."

Eodwulf gave her a fond look. "That we will."

Caleb looked between his two friends and felt a warm feeling grow in his chest. "Ya, we will," he agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> This one's been swimming in my head ever since that episode came out. I hope you liked it!
> 
> If you did, check out some of my other Critical Role fics! Have an idea you'd like to see me write? Let me know in the comments!


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